ADIPOQ and endothelial dysfunction: When elevated inpatients with symptomatic CAD, this adipocytokine becomes associated with anincreased risk of cardiovascular events; a phenomenon that has been described underthe term "reverse epidemiology".22-25 To explain these conflictingfindings, it has been proposed that increased adiponectin levels reflect acompensatory and vasculoprotective mechanism.25 Specifically, in conditions characterized by a markedsystemic pro-inflammatory state and endothelial dysfunction, adiponectin levelsincrease as an attempt to counter-regulate or compensate for this systemicinflammation.